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Abstract

-Resistance ground rules I’ve come up with so far:</p><h1 id="4573">1. I Let My Full Self Come Through in My Writing</h1><p id="610c">On any social platform, Medium included, it’s easy and oh-so-tempting to leave out the parts of myself that my ego isn’t proud of. My fears, insecurities, inconsistencies, quirks—you know, anything that might make someone think of me as less than an ideal human. For the purposes of my future writing, all of this is on the table.</p><p id="f403">Also, swearing. I don’t usually swear in public, because my ego doesn’t want to ruffle any feathers. Here, though, I’m letting it all hang out. So if you notice the occasional swearword in my writing, please know that it’s more of a fuck-you to my ego than anything else.</p><h1 id="b713">2. I Focus on Hours of Writing Time, Not Number of Posts</h1><p id="5704">My ego likes to compete, to get ahead fast and stay there. So, as I’ve come across all the articles that say I should publish at least once a day to succeed on Medium, my ego has put pressure on me to perform at that pace. (This pressure has felt surprisingly intense over the past week especially.)</p><p id="f97a">The truth is, though, my life is already full, and I don’t have the time or the inner desire to live up to the one-a-day pace right now. So, for now, I’m tracking this habit based on hours of deep writing time, and not holding myself to a target number of posts.</p><h1 id="5f8a">3. I Set Up Systems that Support My Writing Habit</h1><p id="8861">I’m a big believer in the power of my environment to shape my habits—I like building physical spaces that reinforce the habits I want to build. (Stay tuned for another post on this later.)</p><p id="9647">For writing, I have a wall calendar next to my desk where I check off the time that I spend writing, reading, or responding to activity on Medium (I can’t miss it whenever I walk in or out of my room). Seeing the blank spaces for each day gives me an extra little nudge to push through Resistance and take action every day.</p><p id="2319">Also, writing ground rules like these ones and setting intentions <a href="https://readmedium.com/hi-medium-im-riley-22bfbbc467a">like I did here</a> are helping me create a mental system that actually makes it fun to follow through on my writing habit.</p><h1 id="f363">4. I Look Deep Inside for Ideas About What to Write</h1><p id="b65c">The question I’m asking myself before starting in on a new writing piece is, <i>“What does my inner being want me to write about today?”</i> Yes, my ego would prefer for me to cash in by focusing on more practical questions like <i>“How can I get in on the most viral trends?” </i>or <i>“What uber-specific niche do I want to own?” </i>But in my experience, both of those questions can be creativity killers.</p><p id="32ec">I truly want my writing here to be creative, to come from beyond my ego—so I’m taking an intuitive approach to choosing my next topic, rather than trying to plan out ideas days, weeks, or months in advance (at least for now).</p><h1 id="6c4e">5. I Include Personal Stories In All of My Posts</h1><p id="a236">This one occurred to me in the process of writing this post. In t

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he past, I’ve had an ego-driven tendency to hide my personal stories behind my ideas. In other words, I’ve been more inclined to talk about breakthrough personal growth concepts than the painful struggles that have often led me to discover them. I want to change that now.</p><p id="97dc">My ego doesn’t want me to be vulnerable, but I can’t do great work without sharing my authentic story. So, as a rule, I hereby commit to sharing at least one personal story with every personal growth concept I write about going forward. You can hold me to it!</p><h1 id="7138">6. I Expose My Ego (Especially When It Gets Loud)</h1><p id="d63f">Finally, this rule is about publicly sharing the shameful thoughts my ego might come up with to block me from writing authentically. My ego’s voice is loud in my head, but it sounds pretty silly when I put it on paper—and even more so when I tell somebody else about its antics.</p><p id="e96a"><b>So, to finish off this list and put this final rule into practice, here are the top five cringey thoughts my ego has thrown at me in the process of writing this article:</b></p><ul><li><i>“You’re taking way too long to write this article. People will think you’re not serious if you don’t publish another one soon.”</i></li><li><i>“You’re totally overthinking this whole ‘no-Resistance’ writing process. It’s just not that complicated.”</i></li><li><i>“Nobody on this platform needs another article about writing. You’re getting sucked into an overdone trend.”</i></li><li><i>“You’re not going anywhere if you keep writing at this pace. You’ll never build a following, much less make any money.”</i></li><li><i>“If you were really serious about this habit, you wouldn’t have let it take this long to post your second article.”</i></li></ul><blockquote id="1b85"><p><i>Side note: Do any of these ego-thoughts sound familiar to you? Drop a comment if you can relate. I’ll continue to share a quick “ego dump” at the end of future articles to be transparent about my inner experience—and, hopefully, gradually loosen my ego’s grip on me.</i></p></blockquote><h1 id="0b23">Wrapping Up: A Resistance-Free Writing Process Is a Happy Writing Process</h1><p id="5b11">But also, not really a thing—because Resistance will always be a part of creative writing. Knowing that total freedom from Resistance is probably too much to ask, I’m hoping these ground rules will minimize Resistance enough to make my writing process enjoyable most of the time. But time will tell, and I’ll keep you posted.</p><p id="fc0b"><i>If anything here stood out as something you would like me to go deeper on in a future post, please let me know in the comments. If you made it all the way down to the end of this post, thanks for reading!</i></p><p id="94cf">Lastly, I want to say thanks to everyone who’s followed me in the two weeks since my last post. I’ve just surpassed the 100 follower mark and it feels great to have passed that milestone. Your support means a lot, and I’m excited to keep connecting with you and reading your posts as well. Glad to be part of a community here that feels so genuine and thoughtful. Here’s to many more good writing days to come!</p></article></body>

6 Steps I’m Taking to Keep My Ego Out of My Writing Process

How I’m Building a Writing Routine to Keep Resistance Low and Authenticity High

Side note: I’m not here to write about writing, but the following ideas have been weighing on me for the past two weeks and they overlap with the kind of personal growth content I want to share in the long run. So, I decided I would share:

I’m in the early stages of developing a big new habit: consistently writing and shipping authentic, vulnerable stories here on Medium. I’d like to think this process would be just like building any new habit, like drinking more water or lifting weights. Except it’s not (at least for me).

For me, the difference between writing and weightlifting is capital-R Resistance. If you’ve read Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art, you’ll know what I’m talking about. If not, here’s a quick definition and example of Resistance:

Definition of Resistance:

Resistance is the devious inner force that keeps people from doing creative work. It’s the ego. It’s the voice inside my head that can instantly come up with a million things I’d be better off doing than sitting down to write something vulnerable right now.

Example of Resistance:

For example, my ego likes the idea of lifting weights, because doing so will make me stronger and more attractive (two things the ego wants). So, I don’t get much Resistance when it comes to weightlifting. But my ego hates the idea of creative writing, because doing so will force me to be seen, take risks, and even leave behind my ego so I can access deeper sources like my intuition (all things the ego is terrified of). That’s when it turns on the Resistance.

Coming Up with My Six Ground Rules to Combat Resistance

If I had my way, I wouldn’t be bringing my ego along for this journey. But the truth is, I don’t have a choice — since the ego and Resistance come pre-loaded along with all the other built-in features of the human mind. (They’re like annoying built-in iPhone apps that just can’t be deleted for some reason…)

So, knowing my ego will tag along whether I like it or not, I’m taking it slow as I build my new writing routine. I know if I go too fast, my ego will pop up and block me from accessing the places where I really want to write from. (For me, at least, it takes time to get past my ego and into the creative zone.)

With all that in mind, I’ve been setting some ground rules to prepare for my inevitable working relationship with Resistance. So, for the sake of transparency, and in case they come in handy for you sometime, here are the six anti-Resistance ground rules I’ve come up with so far:

1. I Let My Full Self Come Through in My Writing

On any social platform, Medium included, it’s easy and oh-so-tempting to leave out the parts of myself that my ego isn’t proud of. My fears, insecurities, inconsistencies, quirks—you know, anything that might make someone think of me as less than an ideal human. For the purposes of my future writing, all of this is on the table.

Also, swearing. I don’t usually swear in public, because my ego doesn’t want to ruffle any feathers. Here, though, I’m letting it all hang out. So if you notice the occasional swearword in my writing, please know that it’s more of a fuck-you to my ego than anything else.

2. I Focus on Hours of Writing Time, Not Number of Posts

My ego likes to compete, to get ahead fast and stay there. So, as I’ve come across all the articles that say I should publish at least once a day to succeed on Medium, my ego has put pressure on me to perform at that pace. (This pressure has felt surprisingly intense over the past week especially.)

The truth is, though, my life is already full, and I don’t have the time or the inner desire to live up to the one-a-day pace right now. So, for now, I’m tracking this habit based on hours of deep writing time, and not holding myself to a target number of posts.

3. I Set Up Systems that Support My Writing Habit

I’m a big believer in the power of my environment to shape my habits—I like building physical spaces that reinforce the habits I want to build. (Stay tuned for another post on this later.)

For writing, I have a wall calendar next to my desk where I check off the time that I spend writing, reading, or responding to activity on Medium (I can’t miss it whenever I walk in or out of my room). Seeing the blank spaces for each day gives me an extra little nudge to push through Resistance and take action every day.

Also, writing ground rules like these ones and setting intentions like I did here are helping me create a mental system that actually makes it fun to follow through on my writing habit.

4. I Look Deep Inside for Ideas About What to Write

The question I’m asking myself before starting in on a new writing piece is, “What does my inner being want me to write about today?” Yes, my ego would prefer for me to cash in by focusing on more practical questions like “How can I get in on the most viral trends?” or “What uber-specific niche do I want to own?” But in my experience, both of those questions can be creativity killers.

I truly want my writing here to be creative, to come from beyond my ego—so I’m taking an intuitive approach to choosing my next topic, rather than trying to plan out ideas days, weeks, or months in advance (at least for now).

5. I Include Personal Stories In All of My Posts

This one occurred to me in the process of writing this post. In the past, I’ve had an ego-driven tendency to hide my personal stories behind my ideas. In other words, I’ve been more inclined to talk about breakthrough personal growth concepts than the painful struggles that have often led me to discover them. I want to change that now.

My ego doesn’t want me to be vulnerable, but I can’t do great work without sharing my authentic story. So, as a rule, I hereby commit to sharing at least one personal story with every personal growth concept I write about going forward. You can hold me to it!

6. I Expose My Ego (Especially When It Gets Loud)

Finally, this rule is about publicly sharing the shameful thoughts my ego might come up with to block me from writing authentically. My ego’s voice is loud in my head, but it sounds pretty silly when I put it on paper—and even more so when I tell somebody else about its antics.

So, to finish off this list and put this final rule into practice, here are the top five cringey thoughts my ego has thrown at me in the process of writing this article:

“You’re taking way too long to write this article. People will think you’re not serious if you don’t publish another one soon.”
“You’re totally overthinking this whole ‘no-Resistance’ writing process. It’s just not that complicated.”
“Nobody on this platform needs another article about writing. You’re getting sucked into an overdone trend.”
“You’re not going anywhere if you keep writing at this pace. You’ll never build a following, much less make any money.”
“If you were really serious about this habit, you wouldn’t have let it take this long to post your second article.”

Side note: Do any of these ego-thoughts sound familiar to you? Drop a comment if you can relate. I’ll continue to share a quick “ego dump” at the end of future articles to be transparent about my inner experience—and, hopefully, gradually loosen my ego’s grip on me.

Wrapping Up: A Resistance-Free Writing Process Is a Happy Writing Process

But also, not really a thing—because Resistance will always be a part of creative writing. Knowing that total freedom from Resistance is probably too much to ask, I’m hoping these ground rules will minimize Resistance enough to make my writing process enjoyable most of the time. But time will tell, and I’ll keep you posted.

If anything here stood out as something you would like me to go deeper on in a future post, please let me know in the comments. If you made it all the way down to the end of this post, thanks for reading!

Lastly, I want to say thanks to everyone who’s followed me in the two weeks since my last post. I’ve just surpassed the 100 follower mark and it feels great to have passed that milestone. Your support means a lot, and I’m excited to keep connecting with you and reading your posts as well. Glad to be part of a community here that feels so genuine and thoughtful. Here’s to many more good writing days to come!